I recently came back from a trip to Chile with my wife, so I thought I would share how I used my miles and points on this trip.
Air Travel
In my opinion, American Airlines’ Level 1 awards are one of the best deals in the miles and points game. Below are the dates for which they are valid, according to the AA web site. The miles noted reflect only a one-way award ticket from the continental U.S. For example, if I were to fly from San Francisco to Spain and back during “off-peak” season, I would only be shelling out 40,000 American Airlines awards plus taxes and fees.
MileSAAver Level 1 (Off-Peak) award varies by date.
- Hawaii (17,500 miles): January 12 – March 13, August 22 – December 15
- The Caribbean and Mexico (12,500 miles): September 7 – November 14
- Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (15,000 miles): January 16 – June 14, September 7 – November 14
- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay (20,000 miles): March 1 – May 31, August 16 – November 30
- Europe (20,000 miles): October 15 – May 15; Japan and South Korea (25,000 miles): October 1 – April 30
What made the trip complicated was that we also wanted to build some time in Florida to visit Pauline’s family. We booked this trip a few days before AA broke the news that they would no longer allow stopovers at North American getaways. Therefore, we were able to build in a stopover in Miami for no additional charge.
When we first booked, our full itinerary was: SFO->ORD-> MIA->SCL->DFW->PHX->SFO. There were way too many legs, but I booked it anyway, knowing I could make changes to the itinerary airport, as long as my destination (SCL) and originating (SFO) airport remain the same. A few weeks before the trip, I looked to see if any seats opened up on my direct routes, and as expected, some inventory appeared. In the end, we got out trip down to SFO->MIA->SCL->MIA->SFO. Less layovers meant a lower change for bags to get lost and for flight delays to occur. I was happy.
Accomodations
I wanted to mix it up a bit on this trip. My wife never really stayed in a hostel before so I thought it would be great to introduce her to my preferred way of travel. For four nights, we stayed at the H Rado Hostal in Santiago. It cost $200 for the both of us for 4 nights, which was expensive for a hostel, but we had to go for the private room. I paid for it using my Barclay Arrival Card, so I was able to redeem arrival points for the hostel since it was categorized as a travel expense. In the end, there was nothing out-of-pocket.
Next, I had to figure out where we would be staying in Valparaiso. I did a quick search on Kayak just to see what was out there, and nothing really intrigued me. I planned to stay for two nights, so I checked to see if I could use my Club Carlson points anywhere in the area. And since I still have my Club Carlson Mastercard, if I used my points, I would only be charged for one night. And bam! I found something. The Radisson Acqua Hotel and Spa in Concon, Chile. It was about 30 minutes away from Valaparaiso, but since we were already planning to rent a car, it worked for me. For 44,000 Club Carlson Gold Points, I was able to reserve a room for two nights in a wonderful hotel sitting right on the Pacific. The lowest rate at the time of booking was $190 per night, so we saved another $380 on the trip!
Rental Car
Damn right I rented a car! Some people think I’m crazy for driving in a foreign country, especially when I don’t know the language very well. No Hablar Espanyol, meng. However, I really believe it’s the best way to really explore a new place. The first website I normally check when I look to rent a car is on the Chase Ultimate Rewards site. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card (which I’ve since downgraded) provides a 20% discount off travel-related bookings when you use your Rewards points on their website to make the reservation. It cost me 9,000 points to rent a groovy little Chevy Sonic for three days, which wasn’t bad at all. Unfortunately, I later learned (at the time of pickup) that I had to pay for 3rd Party liability insurance, along with an EZ-Pass / FasTrak type of device and there was no way around it. No biggie – it was just another expense I could use my Arrival points on.
As you can see, I definitely took full advantage of my loyalty points and flyer miles when planning this trip. There were little out-of-pocket travel costs, so Pauline and I were able to spend more money on food and entertainment, which is really the most important part of the experience. Don’t you agree?
